Helping Fight Holiday Hunger in Our Communities

The holiday season is a time in which Windermere offices across our network come together to help those in need in their communities. Here are just a few of the events that our offices are involved in this month to help fight hunger.

The Windermere office in El Sobrante, CA is hosting an in-house Holiday Food Drive this season. They held their kick-off event on October 1 and will continue to collect food donations through the month of December. They are accepting nominations from the local community to help select families to receive the donations. Monetary donations are also being collected and will be used to buy food items before delivering to the recipient families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Any extra food items will be donated to the Richmond Rescue Mission.

The Windermere Real Estate Professionals office in Boise, ID participated in their third annual “Pick a Pumpkin Feed a Family” event that took place October 12 through November 1. Pumpkins purchased for the office “pumpkin patch” were given to those who donated food during the event. Donations benefitted The Idaho Foodbank, the largest distributor of free food assistance in Idaho.

The Windermere office in Kingston, WA is holding its annual holiday food drive for local families in need. Donations are being accepted at the office now through November 21. Donations can be dropped off Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, and weekends from 10am to 4pm.

The Windermere Stellar offices in Portland (Portland-NW Johnson, Lake Oswego, Portland-Lloyd Tower NE, Portland Heights, Portland-Raleigh Hills, West Linn, and Portland-Moreland), are holding a food drive from November 7-28 to benefit Take Action, INC. Take Action INC provides backpacks full of food to low-income children in the Portland metropolitan area schools each weekend during the school year. They pack and distribute backpacks of food to low-income children so that they don’t have to go hungry over the weekend. Last year, they served 620 low-income families. On November 29, Take Action, INC will receive the food items collected during the drive, along with a $2,000 donation from Windermere Stellar and the Windermere Foundation.

The Windermere office on Vashon Island, WA is coordinating a food drive on November 20. The Basket Brigade, an annual event that they have sponsored since 2000, provides Thanksgiving meals to families in need. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, agents from the office stand in front of a local grocery store to collect food (or cash) donations for these meals. The Vashon Thriftway and Vashon IGA help provide the turkeys and pies, but the rest of the meal items are donated to the office by members of the community. Agents fill and decorate the baskets, which are then delivered by Saint Vincent de Paul volunteers to the families in time for them to cook Thanksgiving dinner.

The Windermere Sequim-East and Windermere Sequim-Sunland offices are holding a food drive now through November 30 to benefit the Sequim Food Bank. Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at 842 E Washington St or 137 Fairway Drive. Proteins like canned meats, dried beans, and peanut butter are always needed. The food bank serves individuals and families living within the Sequim School District.

Thanks to events like these food drives, as well as a variety of other fundraisers held by our offices throughout the year, the Windermere Foundation is able to continue to support non-profit organizations that provide services to low-income and homeless families throughout the Western U.S.